Pico poised to do for beer what Keurig did for coffee

Brewing your own beer at home is a hobby that many are no doubt interested in yet once you realize how much time, work and free space is needed to do so, you’ll probably look for another hobby. Fortunately, microbreweries are growing in popularity across the country, allowing lovers of variety to sample all sorts of local brews without the hassle of having to do all the work.

Like any hobby, there will always be people that are passionate enough about something to see it as art. For the impatient among us, well, we just want to try all sorts of different beer.

Now, there’s a device that’ll do just that. It’s called the Pico and it’s poised to do for beer what the Keurig did for coffee.

A successor to its Zymatic, the Pico from PicoBrew is a fully automatic craft brewing appliance. Owners start by buying a PicoPak, a pre-packaged mix of ingredients that’ll produce five liters (around 14 bottles) worth of beer. After roughly two hours, all of the goods are deposited into a mini keg. All that’s left is to add yeast to start the fermentation process.

A week later, your batch of craft beer is ready to be carbonated and transferred to a drinking keg for consumption.

PicoBrew has already partnered with more than 50 microbreweries to create PicoPaks. While you won’t be able to brew your own recipes in the Pico just yet, the partnerships mean you’ll have the opportunity to sample a variety of brews that you otherwise wouldn’t get without visiting many different regions.

PicoBrew is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter for Pico. The company has already met its funding goal of $200,000 with more than a month remaining in the campaign. A minimum pledge of $499 guarantees you’ll be one of the first to own a Pico (it comes with your choice of three PicoPaks) come next March.